


This One Time At Nerd Camp

by eternaleponine



Series: Ghosts That We Knew [5]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Deleted Scene, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-19
Updated: 2013-08-19
Packaged: 2017-12-24 01:47:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/933709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternaleponine/pseuds/eternaleponine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A deleted scene from the Ghosts That We Knew Series.</p>
<p>This is what Tony and Bruce get up to at nerd camp.</p>
<p>I thought it would be funnier...</p>
            </blockquote>





	This One Time At Nerd Camp

"Bruce? You in there?" Tony poked his head around the door of the lab. "I've been looking all over for you," he said once he'd confirmed that his friend was, in fact, in there. "No one knew where you were but I thought to myself, 'Tony, where would Bruce be when everyone else in the world is out having fun and celebrating being young and alive?' And myself told me, 'In the lab, of course, working, because he wouldn't know fun if it bit him in the you-know-what' (because myself is more polite than I am) so myself and I agreed that we needed to come find you and save you from yourself."

Bruce glanced up from the beakers in front of him, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Sorry, what?"

Tony collapsed back against the doorframe, clutching his chest. "I'm wounded, Bruce! Hurt! Slain!"

"Don't bleed out on the floor," Bruce said. "I don't want to have to clean it up."

The comment was enough to temporarily render Tony speechless. He just stared at Bruce, his mouth hanging out, and for a second Bruce thought he might actually have offended him. But no, Tony recovered with a semi-bewildered laugh. "Funny," he said. "Very funny. Very clever. No wonder you're top of your class."

He stepped further into the lab, looking around. Most of the benches were clear, which was good because Tony had a habit of looking with his fingers. "Did you want something?" Bruce asked. "Because you're not supposed to be in here."

"What?" Tony frowned, boosting himself up onto a stool and peering at Bruce through the various racks of tubes and piping that contained the experiment he'd been working on for the past week and a half. He only had a few days to finish it up and get it right before the showcase at the end of camp. Not that he had anyone to show off to, but he told himself he didn't care.

"You're not supposed to be in here," Bruce repeated. "Remember? You got banned."

Tony frowned. "I wasn't—" He stopped himself, remembering a small altercation with one of the professors a week or so ago. Something about undoing an entire summer's worth of work in less than five minutes or something like that. "I'm sure they didn't mean that. I mean, not as a permanent thing."

Bruce (who had _tried_ to stop Tony but hadn't gotten to him in time, and had been lucky to avoid getting banned himself, or worse, sent home) chewed the inside of his cheek. "I'm pretty sure it was," he said. "I'll come meet you later, okay?"

"No, not okay," Tony said. "We share a room and I've barely seen you in the past three days. You're always in here, always working, and it's not healthy. You need food, and sun, and... fun! You need fun! Fun in the sun! Too bad we don't have a beach nearby, which actually I need to talk to you about because—"

"I need to finish this," Bruce interrupted. "It needs to be done and things keep going wrong and I need to concentrate, Tony. I don't need fun. I need to get this right." It frustrated him that everything was so easy for Tony. Not just the fact that he was brilliant – Bruce knew that he could give Tony a run for his money academically if he tried – but the fact that Tony always seemed to get things right on the first try, or at least he didn't let it get to him when things went wrong. 

Nothing ever seemed to get him down at all, or if it did, it never lasted long. He was charming; people flocked to him. And he was rich. What he couldn't win with his smile and fast talking, he could buy.

"You can take a break for a little while," Tony said. "It will still be here when you get back." 

"Just go have fun without me," Bruce said. "Seriously, Tony, this is important."

"I know it's important, but—"

"No!" Bruce said. "No 'but'! I know none of this matters to you because you're going to get whatever you want in the end anyway, but it matters to me! So just go do whatever you want to do and I'll see you later!"

Tony rocked back on his stool, nearly tipping over, and when he righted himself his elbow crashed into the rack, sending everything rattling and sloshing. His hands came up to steady things, and Bruce's hand closed around his wrist, grinding bone on bone.

The next thing either of them knew, the stool had fallen over and Tony was bent back against another one of the benches, Bruce's arm jammed up under his chin like he meant to crush his throat as well as his wrist.

"Bruce?" Tony squeaked, grabbing onto his friend. "Bruce!"

Bruce blinked, shook his head, and then stumbled backward, nearly tripping over the fallen stool. "Oh god," he groaned, clamping his hands over his mouth. "Oh god, Tony, I'm sorry."

Tony rubbed his wrist and tipped his head one way, then the other. "It's, uh, it's okay."

"No it's not," Bruce said. "It's not. It's not okay."

"Sure it is," Tony said. "I'm not hurt, see?" He flapped his hand in Bruce's direction. "I almost messed up your experiment. You had every right to get angry. Is it okay?" 

Bruce turned to look at it, examining things to make sure that no damage had been done. Everything looked like it was still as it should be. "Yeah, it's okay," he said. 

"See? No harm done, then," Tony said, but he was lacking his usual enthusiasm. "I'll leave you to it. I didn't mean to bother you."

Bruce stared at the liquid bubbling in one of the beakers. He didn't say anything as Tony left. What was he supposed to say? He'd nearly hurt his best friend, and for what? It was just an experiment, and Tony was right, he'd barely left the lab in the last few days except when he was forced to. 

But how could he make Tony, or anyone, understand that this wasn't just some silly experiment for summer camp? This was his entire future, or at least it felt like it. If he could impress the professors here and now, maybe later he could actually _have_ a future. 

He looked at what he'd been working for weeks to achieve and for a second he had the urge to destroy it all. What was the point? He was never going to get it right and even if he did, his father would find some way to ruin it all. He always did. 

Instead, he carefully shut everything down that needed to be, and walked away. Tony was right. It would still be there tomorrow. And maybe he could use some fun after all.

**Author's Note:**

> For my readers "Green Eggs and Spam" and [jacedesbff](http://archiveofourown.org/users/jacedesbff/pseuds/jacedesbff). ♥


End file.
